Helios Station
A spacefaring deathtrap in the Mid Rim, less so a station and moreso a collection of abysmal kludges... "I advise you stay on that route as my scans are showing that there are a few doors that when opened vent plasma into neighboring compartments and we have several sections that have been spaced... Welcome to Helios Station, Captain." ― Anadel Nero This derelict is what can generously be referred to as Helios Station. Formerly a Golan I Space Defense Platform, it was demilitarized around 17 BBY after a series of accidents started an elongated downward spiral from an otherwise normal Imperial space station into a glorified derelict hulk. It was acquisitioned by Anadel Nero in 1 ABY, the latest in a line of legendarily inept, indifferent, unlucky and moronic administrators. __TOC__ Helios Station Overview In the current administrator's own words, Helios Station is a hole. Only one quarter of the station actually meets the admittedly low standards of habitability set forth by the Imperial Habitation Code Enforcement Bureau. This is not to say that the entire station is an utterly unlivable wasteland, just most of it. As a reminder, Helios Station has been a spacefaring deathtrap for at least 15 years, although documentation implies there were several issues during its construction, and after several dozen documented accidents in the few years of its service, and eventually its abandonment and sale to an enterprising gentleman which is where the real fun began. Armament and Specifications Duranium Plating: Like most Golan I platforms, Helios boasts Duranium plating, but then again, due to battle damage, age, and careless actions of previous owners, most of the hull is cracked or otherwise damaged. Much like the shielding, it began as battle damage, degraded into bad luck, and eventually devolved into collateral damage due to terminal stupidity. Life Support: Surprisingly functional in some areas. Life support is available in the primary hab sections of the station, but bleeds out in many areas due to the multiple hull breaches. While it is functional, it is far from clean, as repairing other things around it have robbed it of any organization since it's been moved and adjusted so many times that kludges on top of other kludges have rendered it all but incomprehensible. Reactor Core: One of the few systems on the ship that has absolutely nothing wrong with it is the main reactor. This is not to say that it's the original, but the reactor itself was cannibalized from another station in the line. The shielding is intact and is unremarkable. With the numerous haphazard 'repairs' made over the years, this has proven to be a liability, as its primary function generates excess plasma which usually ends up venting because of a faulty channel, and the worst part is that none of the engineers can make sense of the current kludges, resulting in attempts at fixing the overbleed tending to make things worse. Shield Generator: This was changed enough times to actually warrant note. Since it's rolled off of the assembly line, it's been replaced nine times. Originally, this was due to an attack, but after a while the Republic work crews just started having terrible luck with its malfunctioning, flickering during certain periods, or freak overloads. As of the last retrofit, the shield array was simply completely gut and replaced with several smaller models distributed over the station. While this does nothing against capital class weaponry, very rarely do capital ships come even remotely close enough to come under consideration. Weapons: Helios Station is unarmed mostly due to a combination of theft, carelessness and stupidity. Damage History Helios Station has been damaged so many times that nobody bothered to keep actual maintenance logs once parts were being replaced multiple times in the same standard week. Additionally, the ship has been retrofit so many times with scrap parts that a lot of parts cannot be used as originally intended and mostly function by cruel coincidence. * 19 BBY: CIS corvette engages Helios Station, corvette is destroyed point blank, but the ensuing explosion of the reactor sends chunks of hull which hit quadrant A, disables the shielding and destroys a bay, in addition to cracking the frame * 19 BBY: Shield distributor fries due to improper arrangement of the arrays in the rebuilt quadrant A. The replacement functions as intended. * 19 BBY: Reactor shield fails during a power cycle and has to be replaced. * 19 BBY: Maneuvering thrusters fail after drifting too close to orbit, hull is strained attempting to break orbit. Attempts to push it using a Venator results in more hull damage, a Venator becoming slightly smaller, and the station becoming slightly larger. * 18 BBY: Fire control system overloads during a routine weapon's test. Replaced with a newer model, and given new computer systems in order to use the tech to the fullest. * 18 BBY: Hull is broken after a Providence Dreadnought attacks the station. The dreadnought is destroyed eventually, and several of its parts are incorporated into the repair effort for the station. * 17 BBY: Shielding fails due to improper balance of the arrays due to Dreadnought jury rig. Replaced with twelve smaller models distributed along the quadrants. * 17 BBY: Reactor is replaced due to dramatically different specifications to the original. The replacement is cracked in transport. The fault is detected before installation and is patched, but Helios Station is downsized to a skeleton crew until it can be made safer. * 16 BBY: Helios Station is sold rather than salvaged. A merchant fancying himself a station commander decimates the shields attempting to maneuver it into deep space to mine asteroids rather than paying to have it disassembled and transported piecemeal for reassembly. * 16 BBY: Pirate raiders attack Helios Station and successfully board. Security team fights them off, but not before they breach several corridors and flood sections into void. * 14 BBY: Merchant buys several exotic animals for a menagerie set up in hydroponics. As always, the worst happens and they get loose. After failing to contain them several times, the station has to be sold to mercenaries after the debt became too high to keep it. * 13 BBY: Pirates attack Helios Station and are shelled to oblivion, but the spotty shielding results in more hull damage. * 13 BBY: Imperials mistakenly bombard Helios Station believing it to be an insurrectionist hideout. After learning the acquisitions were legitimate, they present an offering of compensation far less than the cost of parts and make their merry way away. * 12 BBY: Tribes start forming in hydroponics and their animals begin destroying small electronics. Hydroponics is sealed, but still given life support and the station is sold to failed colonists. * 10 BBY: The animals begin to destroy a lot of tubing and the denizens turn to rioting. Entire sections of the ship descend into depravity and collateral damage is high, resulting in well over a quarter of the atmosphere being lost. * 9 BBY: Rebels attack Helios Station believing it to be an Imperial station. The response is swift and brutal. Several arrays are more or less permanently crippled. The station is left more or less in its current state. Geography and Locales Helios Station has a somewhat similar layout to most of its contemporaries despite the fact that much of it is repurposed. As of right now the only hold Anadel properly has is the main Spire. To her credit, it is the nerve center of the operation, but eventually, the reclamation must be total if her claim as Station Administrator is to be considered even remotely legitimate. Praxis: Praxis is the old nerve center of the operation and handles much of the control for the districts as it is both where the mainframe and communications are maintained. Located in the upper spire, it boasts a small but capable security presence and much of it is devoted to infrastructure rather than habitation, although it does have a few apartments that were repurposed into barracks in order to ease the burden of personnel. Precept: If Praxis is the brain, Precept is the beating heart. Located in the lower spire, it runs most of the reactors necessary to keep the station operational. While in its current state, only the primary reactor needs to be online in order to keep life support sustained in the non-vented areas, all of the backups will likely be necessary to power the whole station as well as weapons and shields, if they are ever to see use. Axiom: Axiom is located in the central spire and hosts most of the habitation and businesses. It's more commonly referred to as the Sprawl by members of the 'Old Guard,' although the current Administrator's hirelings tend to refer to it by a functional and clinical name in line with the other two. Axiom was apparently intended to originally be used for entertainment, as most of the fabricated structures appear to be commercial properties such as resorts and such that were hastily converted into civilian habs. With luck, reclamation continues at such a rate that the area may be used for its intended purpose. Praxis Locations of Note The Cortex: The main communication hub and the biggest draw on the reactor. It's been turned into a command center and dispatch most recently. It sees a lot of use and has seen a lot of use, as a majority of the systems are Clone Wars era and in need of retrofit. It is still useful for baseline purposes, but there is room for improvement. The Promenade: Technically the Promenade is part of Axiom, but the controls are all hooked up to relays within Praxis due to being over the border. The Promenade is mostly vacant, since the previous administrations never got around to filling requests for businesses to go there. Of note is the Helios Hyperlanes mechanic shop owned by Luciana Testarossa, which is more or less having their power bill ignored due to cooperation with the rogue Administrator. Exclusion Zone Entrances: Due to difficulties with the station, certain parts of the station are quite simply walled off from other access points. While this will likely change as things are brought into order, leaving the central spire without clearance is strictly prohibited and is done on a case-by-case basis. The Exclusion Zone entrances require a special access pass which is issued from administration, and barring a lot of cutting or high grade weaponry, can only be accessed from those points. The Exclusion Zones have not been reclaimed and are a free-for-all for salvage operations, exploring and hunting. Helios Station does not send Peacekeepers into the Exclusion Zones, as such, support is limited and the laws do not apply there. Personnel WIP Major Exports WIP